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Monday, August 31, 2009

Giving birth at home with a midwife present is as safe as a hospital delivery accompanied by a doctor, suggests a new Canadian study, which found home births were associated with fewer adverse outcomes for both mother and baby.
The study, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, analyzed nearly 2,900 planned home births in British Columbia that were attended by regulated midwives, more than 4,700 planned hospital births attended by the same midwives and more than 5,300 hospital births attended by physicians.
The research found that women who had a planned home birth had a lower risk of having to undergo obstetric interventions such as electronic fetal monitoring, epidural, assisted vaginal delivery and caesarean section, and adverse outcomes such as hemorrhage and infection. More...